It's a long story

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Winnipeg, 1958: Rabbi, my [[baby granddaughter]] has fallen ill.

OK, [[pause]] right there. What could a Rabbi actually do to [[help]] a baby that has //encephalitis//? <<audio pausesong stop>>

<<audio pausesong play>> Here is that pause you wanted. You just go ahead and click [[right here->baby granddaughter]] when you're ready to join us back in the story.

Well, the Rabbi told my great-grandmother that in order to ward off evil spirits, she should arrange a betrothal for my (then) 6-month old mother. As in... Draw up a contract. Casually marry her off. [[Makes sense]] [[You lost me]]

So my great-grandmother drew up a [[tenayim n'souyim]] (a betrothal). To put an engagement [[into writing]].

Ok let me break it down for you. In Jewish thought, I can't say I've ever really encountered much about "evil spirits" but this whole idea of my mother being married off does [[make some sense...]]

Jewish thought holds this belief that every individual has a //beshert// (באַשערט in Yiddush). The word itself means [["destiny"]]

My great-grandmother went to her landsman friend named Leibel, who she knew had two young grandsons. [[HEY!!]]

I'm really not too sure how my grandparents felt about this. Imagine how nerve-racking it would be to look after a sick baby, and then on top of all that worry, your mother or mother-in-law was already [[match-making->tenayim n'souyim]] your daughter before she could walk or talk!

"Leora. Enough. What is the point of [[telling this story?]] It's [[nobody's business]]."

Where was I? Right. So Leibel signed this simple agreement betrothing his [[older grandson]] to my mother. He even exchanges a quarter to seal the deal. Then my great-grandmother [[tucks it away]]. Leibel's family and my mother's family otherwise have little connection.

[[Time and love are non-linear]]

My mother got better. [[She grew up]]. So did that [[little boy]].

Then, one of the most devastating moments of my mother's life. She is 12 years old. her grandmother dies. The whole contract thing is more or less [[forgotten]].

Sometimes I imagine that they passed each other in the [[street]] or the grocery store. Maybe they sat right next to each other at the movie theatre. But [[all without knowing->She grew up]] that they were connected. That a little piece of paper, tucked away somewhere in an old drawer, placed their names side by side in marriage.

Later, my mother and her high-school sweetheart fell in love. When she turned [[19]], they decided to get [[married]].

In fact, when this boy was a little older, his family moved to my mother's street. They were just about [[a few blocks away]] from each other.

Growing up as a child myself, when we would visit family in Winnipeg, I remember walking from one house to another. [[! SPOILER ALERT !->She grew up]]

When I was around 19, my mother loved to remind me that she was married at my age. [[She still does->married]].

They celebrated their engagement at my mother's house. There were guests, food, wine. It was all very [[exciting]] but also [[exhausting]].

So exciting that my mother's fiancé fell asleep on the floor by the end of the night. Meanwhile, a bit of drama was brewing as [[a memory surfaced->connecting dots]] in the mind of one of my great aunts at the party.

Once everyone had left and said their mazal tovs, My mother's fiancé fell asleep on the floor. Meanwhile, my great-aunt Bessie was [[connecting dots]]...

Auntie Bessie ran frantically into her room and reemerged with an [[old paper]] and tears streaming down her face.

"Anita," she said to my mother. "You can't get married. [[You were engaged]] as a child!"

Then my mother was crying. She shook her fiancé awake and said, "Irv, [[I can't marry you]], I can't marry you."

Her fiancé sat up, confused. Auntie Bessie proceeded to read the contract. "See, it says right here, Anita, you are engaged to [[Israel Baruch Eliezar]]."

[[That's]]

He //was// the little boy Who my mother had been engaged to [[all along]]

And 40 years later, my parents are [[still happily married]].

Jewish thought holds this belief that every individual has a //beshert// (באַשערט in Yiddush). The word itself means "destiny." It really comes to mean [[soulmate]]. The person you were destined to fall in love with.

Jewish thought holds this belief that every individual has a //beshert// (באַשערט in Yiddush). The word itself means "destiny." It really comes to mean soulmate. The person you were destined to fall in love with. Each person is really considered a [[half of a whole]] (//plagnishama// "half-souls").

Jewish thought holds this belief that every individual has a //beshert// (באַשערט in Yiddush). The word itself means "destiny." It really comes to mean soulmate. The person you were destined to fall in love with. Each person is really considered a half of a whole (//plagnishama// "half-souls"). We must become a full half in order to meet our [[other half->Makes sense]].

[[Time and love are non-linear]]

<<cacheaudio "pausesong" "Music/Elevator.mp3">>

Now this is a mysterious element of the story... The tenayim betrothed my mother to the //older// grandson. He was about 5 years older than her. Why wouldn't they choose the younger grandson, who was closer in age to her? That's a story for [[another time->tucks it away]]

That's [[my]]

That's //my// Hebrew [[name]]

That's //my// Hebrew name said [[her fiancé]]